1. Do not share user accounts! Any account that is shared by another person will be blocked and closed. This means: we will close not only the account that is shared, but also the main account of the user who uses another person's account. We have the ability to detect account sharing, so please do not try to cheat the system. This action will take place on 04/18/2023. Read all forum rules.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. For downloading SimTools plugins you need a Download Package. Get it with virtual coins that you receive for forum activity or Buy Download Package - We have a zero Spam tolerance so read our forum rules first.

    Buy Now a Download Plan!
  3. Do not try to cheat our system and do not post an unnecessary amount of useless posts only to earn credits here. We have a zero spam tolerance policy and this will cause a ban of your user account. Otherwise we wish you a pleasant stay here! Read the forum rules
  4. We have a few rules which you need to read and accept before posting anything here! Following these rules will keep the forum clean and your stay pleasant. Do not follow these rules can lead to permanent exclusion from this website: Read the forum rules.
    Are you a company? Read our company rules

Tutorial SMC3 Arduino 3DOF Motor Driver and Windows Utilities

Discussion in 'SimTools compatible interfaces' started by RufusDufus, Dec 1, 2013.

  1. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
    I want to use this software to check the settings with the card Thanos AMC 128 is it possible?
    I tested, but the Target blue line does not move
    is there a problem in my configuration?
    Thank you

    my interface 2 for the Uno
    1 for AMC 128
    https://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=831692UNO.jpg
    [​IMG]

    an idea to help me to advance on this problem?
    Thanks :)
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 5, 2017
  2. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2014
    Messages:
    20,460
    Occupation:
    Innovative tech specialist for NGOs
    Location:
    St Helens, Tasmania, Australia
    Balance:
    144,596Coins
    Ratings:
    +10,741 / 52 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
  3. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
    yes I know, it works, I want to use the Uno map to view the curves with the windows utility and adjust my settings

    I set the Uno in interface 2, Interface 1 is the AMC 128, but I have only the curve of the knobs, the curve Target does not move.
    that's my problem
  4. insanegr

    insanegr !N$@n€

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2014
    Messages:
    505
    Location:
    Athens
    Balance:
    16,715Coins
    Ratings:
    +498 / 1 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
  5. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2014
    Messages:
    20,460
    Occupation:
    Innovative tech specialist for NGOs
    Location:
    St Helens, Tasmania, Australia
    Balance:
    144,596Coins
    Ratings:
    +10,741 / 52 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    There is already the Autotune and configurator software for the AMC1280USB, no point making things way more complicated when the right tools already exist: https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/kickstarter-announcement.10517/page-2#post-137480
  6. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
    I am not sure that there is a monitoring of the position and the effects.
    I'll check

    I tried to use the monitoring application, but it does not work
    no monitoring, autotune, I understand nothing, it does anything.
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 5, 2017
  7. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2014
    Messages:
    20,460
    Occupation:
    Innovative tech specialist for NGOs
    Location:
    St Helens, Tasmania, Australia
    Balance:
    144,596Coins
    Ratings:
    +10,741 / 52 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Best to start a new thread about that and include @Thanos so he can give instructions for using the Autotune and configurator software.

    Keep in mind @Thanos is likely super busy preparing all the dispatching for AMC1280USB Kickstarter backers, so be patient.
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2017
  8. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
  9. RufusDufus

    RufusDufus Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2013
    Messages:
    681
    Location:
    Adelaide Australia
    Balance:
    15,602Coins
    Ratings:
    +1,008 / 8 / -1
    It's a bit unclear how you have everything connected and what you are trying to achieve. SMC3Utils doesn't by default run at the same time as Simtools as only one program can connect to the comm port at a time. If you really want that you have to set them both up to use a UDP interface and set SMC3Utils to UDP passthrough mode.

    So in short I based on your screenshot earlier I would say you don't have the Simtools interface setup correctly.

    As @insanegr pointed out in post 1455 I made a special app for monitoring the signals - also requires UDP though because of the same limitation that only one app can communicate with arduino at a time.
  10. Asgarthor

    Asgarthor New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2017
    Messages:
    1
    Location:
    Netherlands
    Balance:
    106Coins
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    Hello RufusDufus and others,

    Thank you for your tutorial. I have a problem and I hope you can give me advice at where to look at:
    I've loaded the code on the Arduino and the engines are now responding to the 10k POT. It tries to get level with the middle of the POT, as we want it to when we aren't doing anything. The problem I'm having is that the system is only trying to get level. I've tried in SMC3Utils and in Simtools to move the axis' just like your tutorial and others are telling me how to do that. It just doesn't do anything but getting level (if I move the POT it just acts to it till the POT is back in the middle).

    The COMM-port is number 3. The settings in SMC3UTILS (with the .ini file) and Simtools are changed to port 3. The baudrate, the bits, partity and others I've changed to the same settings you guys have. The only thing I've seen is that in the code for the Arduino you talk about COMM-port 0 and 1. I believe 0 is more like a 'imaginary' port you can't connect to physical but I'm wondering if the setting of port 1 or 3 has to do something about it. However in SMC3UTILS I'm able to read the engines and to stop them completely by changing the PWMrate and K-values so I'm trying to assume that this is not the problem.

    Perhaps it's worht mentioning that I'm using two 'cheap' Chinese 43 A-bridges. That makes that I've changed the code to '#mode2' and I'm using the 'lineair POT' in the code.

    Could you or anyone else please help me?

    Thanks in regards,
  11. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
    I tried the other application, it does not work either.
    I followed the tutorial, the interface settings are identical.

    How to monitor if you can not have 2 interfaces?
    I do not have to understand ...

    to do the monitoring, you need two interfaces, one that moves the simulator and the other that monitors ...?
  12. insanegr

    insanegr !N$@n€

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2014
    Messages:
    505
    Location:
    Athens
    Balance:
    16,715Coins
    Ratings:
    +498 / 1 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    yes you have to add another interface and keep your profile for motion.
  13. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2017
  14. insanegr

    insanegr !N$@n€

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2014
    Messages:
    505
    Location:
    Athens
    Balance:
    16,715Coins
    Ratings:
    +498 / 1 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    rufusdufus said that you can not have two interfaces with the same com port and explained, to do it you have to use udp(NET)protocol for the new interface.i have tried monitoring my motion only with smc3utils and have done it following these posts

    • Like Like x 1
  15. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
    I do exactly that, it does not work.
    in fact I checked and that's exactly what I did.

    it does not work with the Thanos AMC 128.

    if anyone with Thanos AMC 128, can make me a short video of the settings? and how does it work
    it would be super nice

    I would like to visualize the effects to avoid overshoot, saturation and see how my simulator responds

    thanks
  16. insanegr

    insanegr !N$@n€

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2014
    Messages:
    505
    Location:
    Athens
    Balance:
    16,715Coins
    Ratings:
    +498 / 1 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    • Like Like x 1
  17. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
    ok, thank you for your help !

    I tested this too,
    https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/simple-digital-scope-for-motion-sim-testing.5485/
    it does not work, I'm not the target track.
    I have my potentiometer.
    I did not make a mistake, I checked 10 times before posting here.
    I have exactly that for the outputs

    there is an error in the post:
    Step 7 – open Simtools Game Engine and goto a new “unused” interface tab
    Step 8 – setup for NET interface, enter the IP address of the computer running MotionTracker, use 127.0.0.1 if on the same computer. You can also use 192.168.1.255 to broadcast to all 192.168.1.xxx IP addresses.
    Step 9 – Enter UDP Port 20017 (unless changed in motiontrack.ini)
    Step 10 – Set for 16bit binary output
    Step 11 – Output string [<Axis1><Axis2><Axis3>] and set 1ms delay.
    Step 12 – Save the settings

    the second is this one ?
    RufusDufus said:
    I have added a new BETA version of SMC3.ino and associated windows SMC3Utils program. (Both ver 0.6) If anyone is interested in testing I would appreciate some feedback.

    Note you can test just the Windows SMC3 Utils without the Arduino if you don't want to change your setup... To do this create a new interface output in simtools using a new interface tab and:
    • Set it up to use NET output with UDP Port 20017
    • In the Output String put [A<Axis1>][B<Axis2>][C<Axis3>] with a 10ms delay
    • In the IP Address put the address of the computer you are running Windows SMC3Utils.
    Now when you are using Simtools if you run SMCUtils on the other computer and select "UDP pass through" you should see a light blue line on the chart which is the position data being sent by Simtools. (If you are not using SMC3 Arduino then all the other coloured lines won't be updated - If you are then you should also see lines for the Feedback position and PWM and a few others)

    To Install SMC3Utils simply unzip the file in a directory somewhere and run (you can change a couple of settings in the ini file but not required.) Note you will need to let it through your firewall to use the UDP network feature.
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2017
  18. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2014
    Messages:
    20,460
    Occupation:
    Innovative tech specialist for NGOs
    Location:
    St Helens, Tasmania, Australia
    Balance:
    144,596Coins
    Ratings:
    +10,741 / 52 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    This is outdated for SimTools 2:
    As you have been previously advised:
  19. insanegr

    insanegr !N$@n€

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2014
    Messages:
    505
    Location:
    Athens
    Balance:
    16,715Coins
    Ratings:
    +498 / 1 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    @riton if you are using simtools v1.x its correct but if you are using simtools v2.x you need the output string as i wrote above.
    posts are since the v1.x days and have not been updated, probably that's why you are a bit confused.
  20. riton

    riton Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2007
    Messages:
    600
    Location:
    France
    Balance:
    1,006Coins
    Ratings:
    +103 / 3 / -0
    it's a pity that there is no tools in Simtools to visualize effects, saturation, clipping.
    it would facilitate the visualization of the values and the adaptation to the engines
    a future option?
    for example FFBCLIP for Asseto corsa for car steering wheels